a
human immortal soul.

II. Now we come to the direct study of abortion. Abortion, or
miscarriage, strictly means the expulsion of the foetus before it is
viable, i.e., before it is sufficiently developed to continue its life
outside of the maternal womb. The period of arrival at viability is
usually after the twenty-eighth week of gestation. When birth occurs
later than that period, and yet before the full term of nine months, it
is called _premature birth_, which is altogether different from
abortion; for it may save the life of the child, which abortion always
destroys. "Premature labor is frequently induced in legitimate medical
practice, for the purpose of avoiding the risks which in some cases
attend parturition at term.... The average number of children saved by
this means is rather more than one-half of the cases operated upon," say
Wharton and Stille ("Parturition," p. 96). But they caution the
physician against too ready recourse to this treatment; for, they add
very truly, "The sympathetic phenomena of pregnancy are often more
alarming in appearance than in reality, and will rarely justify any
interference with the natural progress of gestation. In all cases the
physician should consult with one or more of his colleagues before
inducing premature labor; in this manner his humane intentions will not
expose him, in case of failure, to reproach, suspicion, or prosecution."

The first time my attention was practically called to the case of a
child in danger of dying before the time of delivery occurred over
twenty years ago, when the mother of a highly respected family, then in
my spiritual charge, was wasting away with consumption during her state
of pregnancy. You know that we Catholics are very solicitous that
infants shall not die without Baptism, because we believe that heaven
is not promised to the unbaptized. I therefore directed the lady's
husband to consult their family physician on the prospects of the case,
and take timely precautions, so that, if death should come on the mother
before her delivery, the infant might be reached at once and be baptized
before it expired. The physician, a learned and conscientious
practitioner, answered that we should not be solicitous; for that Nature
had so provided that mothers in such cases rarely die before the child
is born. He was right. The child was born and baptized; the mother died
a few hours later; the little one lived several weeks before it went to
join